“As a striker, I need to score goals for the team,” Sesay said. “When I had the penalty, I was like, ‘this is the chance.’ Then I scored.”

That was also a key moment in the match because Mackinnon was sent off for the infraction, leaving Notre Dame a man down in the second half.

“That’s a killer,” said Irish coach Mike Perone of conceding with less than a minute left in the first half. “We had to figure out what we were going to do, but I was really happy with the way the kids played in the second half. They really stuck it out.”

The Irish (5-4-1) played better in the second half with 10 men than they did in the first with 11. Notre Dame probed the Hightstown defense, but could never create a clear cut opportunity.

The best chance to equalize came in the 60th minute after Jake Nerwinski and Brian Hawkins worked a neat give-and-go at the top of the 18-yard box, but Hawkins’ shot was straight at Rams goalkeeper Jacob Reyes.

Hawkins later blazed an 80th-minute free kick over the bar, ending any hope of a dramatic equalizer.

“It didn’t look like they were a man down,” said Hightstown coach Tim Kalick, whose team is still without influential midfielder Jason Aguilar (ankle). “It even looked like it was 12-on-11 at us at times. They took it to us and we sat back a little bit.”

The Rams (10-2-0) would have put the game away in the first 40 minutes if it wasn’t for the outstanding goalkeeping of Jamie Galazin.

The junior was called into action just three minutes into the game, sprawling to deny Sesay after some brilliant work down the right-hand side by Milton Flores.

Sesay again was at work three minutes later, using his pace to blow by two Irish defenders but his shot was straight at Galazin.

By the midway point of the first half, the Hightstown striker was terrorizing the Notre Dame defense. He weaved his way past three players in the 23rd minute only to have his right-footed drive smash off the post.

Even Sesay tipped his cap to Galazin.

“I’ll give the compliments to the goalkeeper,” he said. “He was the man of the match. If he was not the goalkeeper, it would have been like 6 or 7 zero.”

But not even an in-form goalkeeper could keep Sesay off the scoresheet when he stepped up to the spot.

“It’s amazing,” Kalick said when asked about Sesay’s skill on the ball. “We have to work more with him. It’s great when you’re on the sideline watching, but when these guys are on the field working with him, it makes a difference.”